About the country

National Flag: The colours of the State Flag (National Flag) are yellow, green, and red. The tricolour stripes are horizontal. Width-to-length ratio – 1:2.

Capital: Vilnius. The city was officially established in 1323. But a fortified castle at the confluence of the Neris and Vilnia rivers was set up earlier. In Vilnius the Old Town is one of the largest (360 ha) and prettiest in the Eastern and Central Europe also included into the UNESCO World Heritage List. The city boasts excellent public transport provided by trolleybus, bus and minibus routes; plenty taxis are also available.

Language: the official language is Lithuanian. All correspondence and official communication is conducted in Lithuanian.

National Anthem:Tautiška Giesmė by Vincas Kudirka was officially proclaimed the National Anthem in 1919. Music of the National Anthem was also composed by the same author.

State Emblem: since 1991, the State Emblem is a white Vytis (a mounted armoured knight with a raised sword) on a red background.

Geographic Location: The Republic of Lithuania lies on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. In the north, the country borders on Latvia (588 km), in the east – on Belarus (660 km), in the south – on Poland (103 km) and Kaliningrad Region of the Russian Federation (273 km). Lithuania holds a 90 kilometre long area of the Baltic Sea coast. As the National Geographic Institute of France confirmed in 1989, the geographic centre of Europe lies just 24 kilometres northwest of Vilnius.

Neighbour countries: Latvia, Belorus, Poland and Russia

Independency:Declared in 1918 February 16. Restored in 1990 March 11

Total area: 65,300 sq. km. Nearly one third of the lithuanian territory is covered by forests, 4.5% – by inland waters. There are also over 2,800 lakes larger than 0.5 hectares in size, and 18 rivers more than 100 kilometres in length.

Population: 3.24 million (2011estimate).

Currency: Lithuanian litas (Lt). It is pegged to the Euro at the exchange rate of EUR 1 = LTL 3.4528. Cash payments will be accepted only in the Litas, however many shopping centres and other service outlets take credit cards.

Local Time: Lithuania lies in the Central European Time zone (GMT + 2 hours or same as for instance in Helsinki, Riga, and Tallinn).

Country's telephone code: 370

The State of Lithuania is an independent and democratic republic (Article 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania). In Lithuania, the powers of the State are exercised by the Seimas (the Parliament), the President of the Republic, the Government, and the Judiciary. The scope of powers is defined by the Constitution. Public authorities serve the people.

International memberships: NATO and European Union, Schengen zone country

Ethnic Composition: Lithuanians – 83.5%, Polish – 6.7%, Russians – 6.3%, Belarusians – 1.2%, others – 2.3%. Lithuania is home to as many as 115 ethnic groups. Based on ethnic composition, Lithuania is the most indigenous country compared with all the Baltic countries.

Religion: Predominantly, Roman Catholic (approximately 80% of the total population). Other confessions include Orthodox, Old Believers, Lutheran, Reformat, Judaist, Sunni, Karaite and other communities.

Climate: maritime/continental. Average temperature in July is 17,6–19,6 °C, in January -6,3–10,5 °C. However, temperatures can soar up to +32-35 °C in summer, and drop down to -33 °C in winter. Summers here are pleasantly mild, whereas not every winter offers abundance amount of snow.